While official meteorologists advise residents to be prepared for this storm, as MPR’s Interactive Producer I believe some of that preparation can come in the form of online reference tools and opportunities. Here are a few that MPR supports, and we’d love to see others you’d recommend in the comments.

* Watch the warning buttons go from a pleasant blue to warning!warning! red on MPR’s Weather page. The location list covers various parts of Minnesota for quick contrast/compare storm severity at a glance.

* Well naturally, you’ll want to be here. Updraft is MPR’s Weather blog, and we’ll keep posting a mix of fresh updates, forecasts from our meteorologists and just generally useful entries.

* MPR News is on Twitter and Facebook to communicate all news, but with this storm being a big story you’re bound to get relevent updates.

* Get advice from other citizens online. Earlier on Updraft we asked what you were doing to prepare for the storm and there are some helpful replies. Common sense for car travel is outlined in this article, part of our online group about Minnesota Life.

* Residents of the Twin Cities can get forecasts via mobile phone each weekday morning. Text the word WEATHER to 677677 to get started. Standard texting rates apply.

* You can play with the media storm coverage by playing Sningo. This card (click to open in full size) is courtesy Bob Collins of News Cut fame:

While the the game originated for a previous storm, it still works. Let me know how it turns out!